Amidst US-China Tech Race Trump Officials Weigh AI Bosses Meeting on Sidelines of Xi Visit

Washington: US President Donald Trump's administration is considering holding a meeting with executives from major technology and artificial intelligence companies on the sidelines of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States next week, CNN reported, as Washington weighs the future of AI development and the risks posed by advanced systems.

Executives from leading AI companies are expected to travel to Washington for Xi's state visit, while Trump administration officials are privately discussing the logistics of a possible meeting on AI and its associated risks, according to sources familiar with the plans cited by CNN. However, nothing has been finalised or scheduled, and it remains unclear whether Trump would participate. Xi is not currently expected to attend.

“The Administration is in regular contact with AI frontier labs, and will continue engaging with the tech industry to cement America’s AI dominance while keeping Americans safe,” a Trump administration official told CNN.

Representatives for Meta, Anthropic, Google and SpaceX AI did not respond to requests for comment, according to CNN.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are among those expected to attend Trump's state dinner for Xi and could potentially attend the proposed meeting, the report said. OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane confirmed Altman's attendance at the dinner in an interview with CBS.

The possible meeting comes amid an intensifying debate within the Trump administration and the AI industry over safety, regulation and the pace of technological development.

US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday (local time) sharply criticised AI developers who advocate global governance while continuing to build increasingly advanced systems.

Speaking on the All-In Podcast, Vance questioned the approach of companies that warn about the risks of AI.

“Why is it that the people who are at the frontier of the AI economy are throwing up their hands and saying, ‘Well, we've built Frankenstein,’ and the solution to Frankenstein apparently is to create a one-world governance structure for artificial intelligence?” Vance said.

“What I would say to those people: If you're building Frankenstein, stop. If the cat is out of the bag, then build the defensive mechanism against Frankenstein,” he added.

Vance also addressed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's concerns over AI, saying, “Everybody that I know tells me that he's very earnest, that this is a deeply held belief. It's not cynical. It's not about regulatory capture; he genuinely cares about this.”

Trump has meanwhile strongly rejected calls for additional AI safety regulations. On Monday (local time), he claimed that opposition to AI development and data centres was part of a “SICK conspiracy” that could benefit China, while asserting that the United States was leading Beijing and other countries in AI.

“There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one who is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so,” Trump said on Truth Social.

He also said, “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT,” while arguing that his administration already had significant criminal and regulatory powers over AI companies.

Trump reiterated his position on Monday, writing that “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” while accusing calls for stronger guardrails of being part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

The debate has also prompted discussions about possible cooperation between Washington and Beijing.

China has meanwhile called for greater openness and inclusivity in AI development, warning that “fear-mongering, confrontation and vicious competition” could undermine efforts to establish sound global governance for the technology. At the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Xi called for a people-centred approach to AI and a global governance framework based on consensus.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously said a meeting between AI executives and Trump was in the works. He told CNN on Tuesday that the timing of the meeting near Xi's visit would be a coincidence.

“We’ve been talking about this for quite some time and all the discussion from the weekend and the first couple days this week prompted us to go ahead and schedule it,” Johnson said, adding that he believed the meeting would take place next week.

Chinese President Xi will visit the United States on September 24, and Trump had said during the announcement that he anticipates “a lot of good things” from talks with the Chinese leader. 

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